Byron – Giaour

Oh!   who young Leila’s glance could read

And keep that portion of his creed

Which saith that woman is but dust,

A soulless toy for tyrant’s lust?

Ch. Baudelaire – The Giantess

In times of old when Nature in her glad excess
Brought forth such living marvels as no more are seen,
I should have loved to dwell with a young giantess,
Like a voluptuous cat about the feet of a queen;

M. Proust – Swann’s Way

…she concluded with the wisdom invariably shewn by people who, not being in love themselves, feel that a clever man ought to be unhappy only about such persons as are worth his while; which is rather like being astonished that anyone should condescend to die of cholera at the bidding of so insignificant a creature as the common bacillus.

Only Lovers Left Alive

The Tree of Wooden Clogs

R. Armantrout – The Way

As a child,   

I was abandoned

in a story

made of trees.

 

J. Kerouac – Big Sur

…and all of a sudden I’m alone with a charming woman and we’re talking a blue streak sitting cross-legged facing each other on the floor in a litter of books and bottles.